Monday, October 17, 2011

Praying with Sophie

As a parent we try to teach our kids all that they will need to know. We try to teach them how to get along with others, we try to teach them how to study hard in school, we try to teach them the difference between right and wrong and on and on. But have you ever been taught anything by your kids?

I have always tried to say prayers with my kids at night when they were young. My two oldest no longer need me to help them with this but my youngest daughter loves to have me come in her room at night and say her prayers with her. We talk about whatever is on her mind for a few minutes but then I tell her it is time to say her prayers and go to sleep. She is seven and starts out praying the typical Now I lay me down to sleep prayer. She begins to rattle off the names of the people she is praying for - Grampa Al, Grammy Karen, Poppy and Grammy, her brother and sister, friends at school etc.

Inevitably she gets to a point where she just stops praying. As her dad I know she is not finished but what she is doing is that she has prayed for everyone and everything she can remember and she want me to pray for what she has forgotten. I will begin praying for the people she left off of her list, the cousins or uncles and aunts that she forgot about. I will name a few of her friends at school that may be going through some difficult things. I will thank God for her, I will thank God for helping her do a good job in school, for her helping around the house, and on and on. She just lays in her bed listening to me and at the end when I am done she says "I love you Jesus...Amen!"

As I thought about this the other day I could not help but think about a verse of scripture that this represented:

Romans 8: 26, 27 - 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

There are times when I do not know how to pray or what to pray and I think that is normal. God understands our weaknesses and as He does for us over and over again, he steps in and helps. We are not to give up praying, we need to do like my daughter and pray for what we can but then we may just need to be quiet for a few minutes and let the Holy Spirit take over. Sometimes a pause during our prayer time may be just what we need. Let the holy Spirit take over and simply say "I love you Jesus...Amen!"